How To Be Your Own Mentor

At some stage in your internet business career you’ll probably consider getting a mentor for that extra expert advice, support and ‘kick up the butt’ to push you to the next level.

I highly recommend a mentor if you can afford one. There is nothing like having someone to keep tabs on you and someone you can report to on top of all the advice they can share with you.

But unfortunately, for many marketers, especially beginners with a low budget, even if you want to get a mentor, you may not be able to afford one.

I was thinking about this the other day and was playing with the idea that you can be your own mentor. This would be the perfect solution to those who want to build up their business and save a lot of money.

If you’ve been working online in your own business for any time, you’d probably know that being your own boss is not the easiest thing to do. To be your own mentor and be your own boss is going to be even harder so this concept isn’t for you if you’re lazy.

In order to be your own mentor I believe you have to have more qualities than just being an average web business owner.

To make the leap up, you need to have extreme self control and an unstoppable drive to be the constantly learn, improve what you’ve already got, do new things better and do it more often.

Mind Control

I believe this is where 99% of “self-bosses” fail. They simply can’t control their minds to keep their thoughts focused on their business long enough to get any decent work done. It’s hard I agree and I am not saying I’m perfect in this area. There are so many distractions online. We have to get a handle over our inbox, facebook account, instant messengers and other activities that can suck our attention and our time. To be your own mentor, you’ve got to turn on the ‘boss inside you’ and listen to him. You’ve got to think like a mentor. You know when you’re mucking around and should be working – think “would [insert mentor’s name here] be doing this?”. Then it’s only a matter of making that mental decision to stop procrastinating and getting back to work.

Try this too: If you find yourself screwing around wasting time, close all browsers and programs.. even go so far as to switch off your computer. Get a pen and paper and write out a list of things you want to do. Then plan how you’re going to accomplish them. Not knowing what to do when you sit down at your PC is the biggest feeder of procrastination.

Getting The Drive

First of all, you need to really want to succeed and have an undying dedication to your business. It’s pretty easy to get excited and hype yourself up to get motivated – you just have to imagine yourself when you have achieved your goal. If that doesn’t work, read some motivational books or listen to audios.

Constantly Learn

If you’re not increasing your knowledge everyday, you’re going backwards. The internet is changing everyday. Although the fundamental marketing strategies remain the same, new tools and marketing avenues appear all the time. Yes it’s good to buy some courses that teach you new (for you) methods to increase traffic. conversions, profits etc. If you don’t buy anything thinking you already know all there is to know, you’re shooting yourself in the foot!

Learning is one key to growing your business. You pay a mentor to learn new things so think of new courses and study resources as in investment. You do have to pay for knowledge, but it’s that knowledge that can make you rich!

Improve What You’ve Got

There is always room for improvement so whatever you have learned, see where you can apply it to improve your business that you’ve already got going. Some marketers like to start new things and forget about what they’ve made in the past. I like to maximize what I’ve got because it’s a lot easier to make something better than start a completely new project.

Do New Things Better

Creating new things is what being an entrepreneur is all about. It’s a good idea to make what you’ve got better but you’ve got to always be looking to create and grow your product line, your customer base and build your brand. It comes back to learning – from courses that you buy to your experiences/mistakes – to do new things the better than before.

Do More

The awesome thing about having an internet business is that it’s a numbers game for the most part. Once you’ve got your conversion rates dialed in, you can pretty much predict how much you can make or how much traffic you need to be able to make X dollars. The next step is to just do more of what you already know what’s working. It’s not rocket science. You don’t have to invent a brand new business every time. Just keep pumping out offers sites and campaigns that you know are going to make you money.

Make Goals And Reward Yourself

You’d get a lot of satisfaction if your mentor gave you a big pat on the back and said “great job!” seeing all the great results you’ve accomplished. Being your own mentor, you should reward yourself for accomplishing certain tasks by a certain time. It can be a daily reward or a big reward after a big project like a product launch. This means you’ll have to set goals and deadlines to accomplish them. Having a reward waiting for you will keep you focused and determined to get the job done right. You don’t want to put yourself under too much pressure but you need a little to get the most out of your time – and simply get things done!

Becoming your own mentor is not impossible and it won’t happen overnight. It will take a lot of work but if you apply some of the qualities I talked about above, you may find yourself becoming the mentor you would have happily paid $1000/mth to. But as your own mentor, pay that money and all the extra you make from your improved business to yourself. You earned it!

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5 thoughts on “How To Be Your Own Mentor”

Great article. I think alot of people are struggling online. Im also still finding the right way. usually persistence is the key of success. Learning from someone who already made it is one of the quickest way. Thanks for sharing this.

I find your updates very helpful and boy, do I need help. My budget is less than small so every bit of advice in many catagories is so important and your information is the best time after time. Thank you so much.

This is pretty interesting but I am learning that this type of business is a dog eat dog type of learning. When I first started I learned everything on my own and knew absolutely nothing about running a website business. The reason for starting my own business is because I lost my job. Seven months later I still don’t have my website up and running (well it is) but I’m not selling anything yet. It’s been such a struggle and I’m still trying to get my theme and the look of my website just right. Everyday I wake up terrified !! I’ve spent more money than I really could afford on BS programs and frankly I’m sick of most marketers. Isn’t there anyone out there that would take me under their wing and show me the way to atleast get up and running? No. That would be to human. I feel that most marketers have lost their humanity. Well, once I do learn enough and start to make a decent living, I WILL PAY IT FORWARD !! It’s so discouraging but I’m not going to give up cause I’m not a quitter. I hope I can help everyone who asks for help, because that can be just as satisfying as being a millionare guru.
I liked your blog and what you have to say is very interesting and makes sense.
Good luck to you in all your endeavors !!
radindu
ifyouliketoread.com

Hi Becki. You’re right. A lot of marketers or ‘gurus’ pretend to help but they’re only out here to sell you stuff.. to keep you chasing the golden goose. There is plenty of information out there – you just have to search it out. You can get hand-holding help too but it’s usually expensive. Entrepreneurs value their time very much. And that kind of help should be expensive too because most people don’t appreciate free or cheap stuff very much. All the best, Stuart